Rotary and casing hook



Sept. 29, 1931. N; K. SMITH 4 1,325,018

ROTARY AND CASING HOOK Filed April '7. 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Sept. 29, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NELSON K. SMITH, OF LOSANGELES, CALHOBNIA, ASSIGNOB 'I'O BYRON JACKSON 60., OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION 01 DELAWARE ROTARY AND Application filed April 7,

This invention relates to rotary and cas-.

in rotar dril ing for supporting the drill pipe an for raising and lowering casing in the operations of connecting new sections of casing to the casing in the well and then lowering the casing so as to encase that porg tion of the well that has recently been drilled.

A further important object of the invention is to increase the facility with which the various operations may be performed.

An important object is to make provision for supporting the elevator bails in positions at right angles to the bail of the swivel thereby avoiding the necessity of tying back the elevator while the drill 'stem is being rotated.

Another very important object is to provide a link connection between the bail of the hook and the shank thereof so that the strain upon the hook will be partly transmitted to the shank through said lin ,thereby insuring against breakage of the hook at its weakest point.

Another very important object is to provide for selfadjustment of the hook so as to equalize the strain on the elevator bails in event of said bails being of unequal length as is frequently the case. The elevator bails may be of exactly the same length when the elevator is new but after use the bails may become bent to different degrees, thus changing the distance from the point of their engagement with the hook to the axis of the elevator trunnions.

Another very important object of the invention is to insure to as great an extent as possible against the pressure being thrown eccentrically on the bearing, thereby increasing the life of said bearing.

Another important object is to provide a novel'latch for holding the relatively rotatable members of the hook against relative rotation when this is desirable.

Another important object is to facilitate connecting the eye of the block and tackle to the bail of the hook.

Another very important object is to make provision for engaging the elevator bails at casnte noon mo. Serial 1 l'o. 442,280.

other points on the hook than the point where the swivel bail is engaged.

Another important object is-to insure the hook hanging vertically when it engages the stand of drill pipe that it is to pick up, in order that the e evator may be readily enaged with said stand without the necessity of tilting the elevator, as would be necessary if the hook did not hang verticall at the time that the elevator is to be place around the stand of drill pipe.

Another very important object is the general improvement of the type of hook in which a coil spring is employed for liftin the stand of pipe off the section from whic it has been screwed, as soon as the screw threads disengage. During the drillin ope-ration, when the drill stem is supportec l more or less by the hook, the spring is fully compressed, the coils resting upon one another.

Another very im ortant object is to facilitate engagement 0 the hook with the bails when'the hook is being elevated for the purpose of lifting the Kelley out of the rat-hole, preparatory to connecting the Kelley with the drill stem in the well-hole. This object is attained by providing a folding bill on the hook, the extensible portion of the bill I being adapted to engage the swivel bail and to then be actuated into folded position by the weight of the bail as said bail slides inwardly into the notch of the hook.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the sub-joined detailed description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention: Y

Figure 1 is a longitudinal view of a rotary and easing hook constructed in accordance with the provisions of this invention.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of Fig. 1 from the right thereof.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line indicated by 3-3, Fig. 2. Fragments of the bails of the swivel and elevator are indicated in dotted lines.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line member being shown in solid lines in closed position and being indicated in extended position in dotted lines.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged plan view of Fig. 1, partly in section, on the irregular line indicated by 5-5; the latch for holding the ba1lhead in closed position is shown closed in full lines and is shown in open position in dotted lines. I

Fig. 6 is a fragmental view, mainly in horizontal section, on the line indicated by 6-6, Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged horizontal section on the line indicated by 77, Fig. 2.

Fig. 8 is a fragmental view of the left end portionof Fig. 5, portions being in section on the line indicated by 8-8.

Referrin to the drawings, there is provided a bail 11 which pivotally supports a trunnion block 12. The trunnion block is provided with a central bore 13 through which passes a stem 14. The lower end of the stem 14 carries a, pivot 15, the ends of which extend into a. shank 160i a hook which is indicated in general by the character 17. The longitudinal axes of the trunnion block 12 and pin 15 may be at a right angle, or any other angle, to one another, since, normally, the stem 14 is free to rotate within the trunnion block 12. The outer ends of the trunnions 1610f the trunnion block 12 are provided with washers 171 to prevent the arms 18 of the bail 11 from coming ofi' of said trunnions.

The stem 14 projects above the level of the trunnion block between the bail arms '18 and surrounding the upper projecting The nut 21, in this instance, is locked on the stem by a taper pin 22 which passes through the stem and nut. Preferably, the stem 14 and spring housing 19 are connected for simultaneous rotation and this is efiected, in this instance, by vertical grooves 23 in the nut 21, and inwardly projecting tongues 24 in the member 19, said tongues slidably engaging in the grooves 23 so that when the stem 14 is pulled downwardly to compress the spring 20, the nut 21 is in sliding engagement with the member 19 but is held against turning relative to said member 19.

The lower end of the spring housing 19 seats on a bearing 25 which, in this instance, is of the ball type. A suitable means is provided for releasably locking the member 19 and the trunnion block 12 against relative rotation and, in this instance, said means includes a latch member 26 pivoted at 27 to the trunnion block 12 and selectively engaging notches 28 in the outer face of the spring housing 19, at the lower end of said housing. 7

releasably locked against rotation relative to the bail 11. When it is desired to permit relative rotation between the stem and hail, the latch 26 will be retracted. Besides the arms 18 of the bail 11, said bail includes a head 29, said head bein supported on the arms by shoulders 30. t one end the bailhead 29 is provided with a bore 31 through which one of the bail arms 18 extends and the head 29 may be swung on said arm into open position away from the other arm 18 or into closed position on said other arm.

When the head 29 is closed, a vertical recess or groove 32 therein receives a portion of that bail arm 18 on which the head 29 does not swing, and a latch member 33 is pivoted at 34 to the head 29 and is adapted to close across the groove 32 so as to prevent the head 29 from being swung into open position. The latch 33 is held inclosed position by a pin 35 which, in this instance, is in the form of a cap screw which is inserted through an ear 36 and threaded into an ear 37, the ears 36, 37 being on the head 29. The pin35 passes through a hole 38 in the latch 33. The arms 18 are provided just above the head 29 with shoulders 39 which prevent the head 29 from being pulled upwardly 01? of the arms 18.

When the loop or eye of the block and tackle is to be connected or disconnected from the hail, the pin 35 will be removed, the latch 33 swung open and the head 29 then swungv into open position. After-the loop or eye of the block and tackle has been swung over the free end of the head 29, said head will be swung closed and the operations just described will be performed in the reverse order so as to secure the head 29 in its closed position.

Preferably the back of the hook 17 is provided with a vertical groove or channel 40 which may be of arcuate contour. When the operator in the derrick swings the hook toward the stand of pipe that is to be 0011'. nected with the pipe in the well, the groove 40 will engage said stand of pipe and thus maintain the hook in vertical position while the operator places the elevator in position on said stand of pipe.

If the groove 40 were not rovided, the hook would slip to one side ot the stand of pipe, thus canting the' hook and, since the hook is at this time carrying the elevator, said elevator would also be canted and, consequently, it would require that the operator tilt the elevator until the axis of its bore was substantially parallel to the axis of the stand of ipe. This would require time and considera 1e efiort and, accordingly, the presence of the groove 40 economizes the operators time and facilitates his swinging the elevator into the right position for engaging the stand of pipe.

The hook member 17 is provided near its broken lines at A in Fig. 3. The groove 40.

being, as stated above, in the back of the hook member, the notch 41 opens to the front of said hook member. Above the level of the notch 41 is a )air of other notches 42 that constitute hook openings. These openings 42 are in the opposite sides of the hook member 16 and are adapted to receive the two bails, indicated at B, of an elevator, of which only the bails are fragmentarily indicated in Fig. 3. It will be seen that the bails B straddle the lower portion of the hook so that when the elevator is not in use it can rest against the swivel, not shown.

The particular construction of the lower end portion of the hook member 17, that engages the swivel bail, will now be described: The hook member 17 terminates below the opening 41 in a foldable bill that includes a stationary section 43 and a swing ing section or link 44 which is pivoted at 45 to the section 43. The section 43 is provided with an upwardly and forwardly extending shoulder 46 adapted, when the link 44 is in the open position indicated at C in Fig. 4,

to engage a shoulder 47 onsaid link 44 so disconnected therefrom.

as to support said link 44 in its open position, in which position it extends aslant upwardly and outwardly from the section 43. This link 44 has a two-fold function. When in the opener extended positibn, the link 44 readily engages the bail of the swivel when the hook is hoisted for that purpose,

as is done when it is desired to pull the Kelley out of the rat-hole, a term a plied to the hole in the derrick floor in w ieh the Kelley is placed while sections are being added to the drillpipe'and casing or being As the bail of the swivel slides inwardly along the upper face of the extended bill section, it comes into contact with a shoulder 48 on said section 44 near the inner end of said section 44. This shoulder 48, even when the section 44 is extended, lies inwardly of a vertical plane through the pivot 45 and, when said shoulder 48 is engaged by the swivel bail, said shoulder is urged inwardly and downwardly, thus swinging the link into the closed posh tion shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4 and, at the same time the swivel bail slides off of the shoulder 48 and into the lower portion of the hook opening 41.

The shoulder 48 is spaced inwardly a 'sufficient distance from the pivot 45 to insure that, when the link 44 is extended, the bail .5 of the swivel will engage the shoulder 48 rearward-1y of a vertical plane that passes throu h the axis of the ivot 161, even thoug the hook member ,e' canted rearwardly as naturally occurs because at the moment the weight of the bail is first imposed on the hook said weight is eccentric relative to the longitudinal axis of the hook member. In thisinstance, the shoulder 48 is positioned approximately on the longitudinal axis of the hook member.

"When the section or link 44 is in the closed position, a transversely extending link 44 immediately above the opening 49, that forms the upper wall of the opening 49, is accommodated more or less in a notch 52 in the front of the hook member 17. The lower face of the portion 51 is more or less concave, as indicated at 53, to fit the convex upper face of the protrusion 50, the radii of the faces 53, 54 being struck from the axis of the pivot 45 as a center. The faces 53, 54, when the link 44 is closed, are approximately in engagement so that when the strain comes upon the swivel bail, all of the strainis not transmitted through the rear wall 55 of the hook opening 41 but a lows: Communicating with the opening 49 is a channel 56 in which is slidably mounted a latch 57. The'latch 57 is held in place by a guide member 58 that projects into a slot 59 extending longitudinally of said latch member at the lower end thereof. At its upper end, the latch is held in the channel 56 by a pin 60 that extends transversely of .said channel across the outer edge of the latch member 57. The upper end, of the latch member 57 is adapted, when the link 44 is closed, to engage behind a shoulder 61 on the underface of the protrusion 50. The latch 57 isyieldingly heldin its latching position by acoilspring 62.

Projecting from the outer face of the latch 57 is a knob 63 over which the operator may place the eye of an operating member for retracting the latch and swinging the link 44 into open position, said op-. erating member being used when the hook is considerably above the level of the operator so that he is unable to reach the latch with his extended arm. In order to facilitate retracting the latch 57 and opening the link 44, when the operatorhas access to the latch with his hand, there is provided a handle 64 that is pivoted at 65 to the latch 57.

Links are also provided for closing across characters as employe same as the latch 57, the various elements thereof are designated b the same reference for the latch 57, with the addition of the suffix a.

The foregoing will make clear the construction of the invention and the o eratlon of the various features thereof, an briefly stated, the operation is'as follows Assuming that the bail-head 29 has been connected with a block and tackle, that the swivel bail is in the opening 41, that the link 44 1s closed, that the elevator balls are in the openings 42 with thelinks 44 closed, and that the Kelley supported by the swivel is being rotated by the rotary table, not shown, the elevator bails will be positioned astride of the lower portionof the shank member 16 and the elevator rest against the upper portion of the swivel. Now, assuming that it is necessary to connect another stand of drill pipe to the drill stem, the operator will cause the hook to beraised until the'lower end of the Kelley is above the rotary table.

The slips will then be set in the rotary table to hold the drill pipe and, thereupon, the Kelley will be disengaged from said drill pipe. The Kelley will then be swung to one side and lowered into the rat-hole. The link 44 will then be swung into open position and the hook detached from the swivel bail.

The hook will then be raised by operation of the drawworks into a position in the upper portion of the derrick, thus raising the elevator, the bails of which arein the opening'42, into position adjacent to the upper end of the stand of pipe that is to be connected with the drill stem. The operator in the upper portion of the derrick will move the upper portion of the stand of pipe along the fingerboard until said pipe is almost vertical and he will then swing the elevator into position to engage around the stand of pipe. When this last operation is being accomplished, the hook comes into engagement with the stand of pipe which enters the groove 40, thus holding the hook against swinging to one side or the other of the stand of pipe.

Accordingly, the elevator which is properly balanced on its bails so as to tend to naturally remain horizontal, is not tilted out of its horizontal position while it is being moved into place around the stand of pipe.

The drawworks will then be operated to raise the hook to cause the elevator to lift the standof pipe which stand will swing into perpendicular osition over the upper A hook comprising a hook mem provide with a notch to receive the bail of a swivel and provided with other notches to receive the bails of an elevator, the second mentioned notches'having their axes at aright angle to the first mentioned notch.

2. A rotar and casin hook comprising a hook mem er provided with a notch to receive the bail of a swivel and provided with other notches to receive the bails of an elevator, links pivoted to the hook member closable in front of the notches, and.

latches on said links to releasably hold said links closed.

3. -A rotary and casing member comprising a hook member provided with a notch to receive the hail of a swivel and provided with other notches to receive the bails of an elevator, links pivoted to the hook member closable in front" of the notches, a stem pivoted to the hook member, a trunnion block, and means rotatably and yieldingly supporting the stem on the trunnion block.

4. A rotary and casing member comprising a hook member provided with a notch to receive the bail of a swivel and provided with other notches to receive the bails of an elevator, the second mentioned notches hav-" ing their axes at a right angle to the first mentioned notch, and links pivoted to the hook member and closable in front ofthe notches.

' 5. A rotary and easing member comprising a hook member provided with a notch to receive the bail of a swivel, said hook member being provided with a foldable bill adapted, when unfolded, to extend aslant upwardly and outwardly so as to catch and guide the swivel bail into the notch, and means at the free end of said foldable bill to automatically latch said foldable bill in closed position.

6. A rotary and easing hook comprising a hook member provided with a notch to receive the bail of a swivel, the bill of said hook including a stationary section and a section pivoted to the stationary section, the pivoted sectlon provided with an opening,

the hook member being provided with a protrusion' adapted to extend through said opening, and a-latch releasably locking the pivoted section to said protrusion.

A rotar and easing hook comprising a hook mem er provided with a notch to receive the bail of a swivel, the bill of said I tion, the hook member being provided with a protrusion, the pivoted section having an o ening to receive said rotrusion when the pivoted section is in olded position, the protrusion having a convex face, and the upper wall of the opening being concave and fittin said convex face.

9. rotary and easing hook comprising a hook member provided with a notch to receive the hail of the swivel, the bill of said hook member including a stationary section and a section pivoted to the stationary section, the hook member being provided with a protrusion, the pivoted section having an openin to receive said protrusion when the pivote section is in folded position, the protrusion having a convex face, the upper wall of the opening being concave and fitting said convex face, and a latch to releasably lock the pivoted section in folded position.

10. A rotary and casing hook comprising a block provided with trunnions, a bail engaging said trunnions, a stem extending through the trunnion block and provided with a shoulder, a housing surrounding the stem above the block, a coil spring within the housing engaging said shoulder, a hearing between the lower end of the housing and the trunnion block, and a hook member I connected with the stem.

11. A rotary and easing hook comprisin a block provided with trunnions, a bail engaging said trunnions, a stem extending through the trunnion block and provided and a. hook member connected with the stem.

13. A rotary and easing hook comprising a block provided with trunnions, a bail engaging said trunnions, a stem projecting through a trunnion block and provided with a shoulder, a housing surrounding the stem, a spring between the housing and the shoulder, a bearing between the housing and the trunnion block, means slidably connecting the stem with the housing and preventing relative rotation of the stem and housing, a-

means releasably holding the housing and trunnion block against relative rotation, and a hook member pivoted to the stem.

14. A rotary and casing hook comprising a hook member provided with a notch to receive the hail of a swivel and provided with apair of other notches one on each side of said first-mentioned notch and having their axes at ri ht angles to the axis of said first notch, said other notches receiving the bails of an elevator, and links pivotally connected to said hook member and closable in front of each of the notches.

15. A rotary and easing hook comprising a hook member rovided with a swivel receiving hook an provided with a pair of elevator bail receiving notches one on each side of said swivel hook, the elevator notches having their axes at a right angle to the axis of the swivel hook, and a vertically extending groove in the rear of said hook member substantially in alinement with the vertical plane of said swivel hook for engaging the casing to maintain said hook in alinement therewith while load is placed upon said elevator notches.

Signed at Los Angeles, Calif., this 2nd day of April, 1930.

NELSON K. SMITH.

with a shoulder, a housing surrounding. the

stem above the block, aroil spring within the housing engaging said shoulder, a bearmg between the lower end of the housing and the trunnion block, and a hook member pivoted to the stem.

12. A rotary and easing hook comprising I a block provided with trunnion's, a bail engaging said trunnions, a stem projecting through a trunnion block and provided with a shoulder, a housing surrounding the stem, a spring between the housing and the shoulder, a bearing between the housing and the trunnion block, means slidably connecting the stem with the housing and preventing relative rotation of the stem and housing, a means releasably holding the housing and the trunnion block against relative rotation, 

